Evanescence: A Harsh Violet
by emosewa-13
Summary: The Faders. Humans mutated by the Delta Virus, or at least the ones who lived through it. The government are hunting them, and their only sanctuary is a clandestine school in the heart of it all. Maybe this is all a nightmare… It has to end somewhere… right? Even as we fade, the world goes on. These are the lies and hopes birthed from despair. SYOC! Open! [Collab Four-Ways!]
1. Prologue

**A/N:**

**Emosewa: AWW YISSSS! Finally, after weeks of planning and writing on Google Docs; after plenty of spreadsheet editing and setting; after many conversations until the disgustingly awesome hours of morning; it is finally here! The modernized TS:SoS! The dystopian PokePowers! The not-pokemorph-but-have-pokemon-powers pokemorphs! YES, WE'VE GOT A COLLAB WITH ONE OF THE CHILLEST PEOPLE HERE! Anywayy. Yeah, this is a SYOC, form on our profiles, please send to both of us. :D I'm super-duper excited for this, guys! AHHHH! *ahem* **

**Skittlinq: Heyhey guys! I'm an idiot so I've decided to take a go at juggling three fics! Yay! BUT THIS TIME I'M COLLABORATING WITH THIS super awesome, amazing, cool as author (who gives the best tips ever). This is kind-of new to me. I don't have Emo's awesome, humourous, writing style, nor have I ever written anything outside of school in first POV. SO YEAH, I THINk Emo's already covered everything, but I'll just repeat it all so I don't look like a useless sideliner. This is (another) multi-POV SYOC story. An academy one, actually. But I swear it's not cliche, okay? The form will be at the bottom, and on both of our profiles. Make sure you read the rules and follow them! c:**

* * *

**Full Summary**

_Evanescence, noun: the act of __disappearing gradually; vanishing; fading away. _

_Faders, noun: survivors of a deadly disease known to mutate it's victims. Deemed dangerous by the government and locked down in concentration camps. _

The Faders…what's left of the victims of the Delta Virus. The war persists, the land ravaged, the Faders to blame. Playing in the deadly hunt against the government, they are captured, one by one. Their only sanctuary: a clandestine school in the heart of it all.

Maybe… this is just a terrible nightmare conjured under a moonless night. The sorrow and anguish… all an illusion, ghosts of the past, a game we'll all escape... or maybe not - then we've just walked into a living nightmare.

But even as we wait… even as we fade, the world goes on...

These are the lies and hopes birthed from our despair.

_...What about you? _

This is a song of your demise. This is a crimson ball in a scarlet fairy tale. A masquerade over a mosaic floor of broken dreams. Behind the masks are truth and lies, friends and enemies. What unfolds under the chandelier will transcend everything you've ever known.

_Care to dance? Be careful not to trip._

* * *

**Evanescence: A Harsh Violet**

**Prologue**

_If your heart can be broken, then it means it's still working._

* * *

Rain pounded off the roof of the laboratory. It was the type of rain that seeped through clothes and skin; that sent an insistent _pat-pat-pat _across the pavement; the kind that sent mist spiralling through the air; the type of weather no one would be out in. Wind whipped wildly around, scattering loose trash and blowing leaves off trees. The moon was barely visible under the layers of clouds, but that didn't matter. The sun would be coming up soon. Which basically meant everyone was asleep.

Well, all except for one man.

He was in his mid-twenties, with neatly combed jet-black hair. His light lilac eyes were sunken, but sparkled at the thought of his discovery… at the thought of what he could create.

At the thought of what he could avenge.

_Selena..._

Everything he wanted was in the notebook he held in his hands. All he had to do was give life to the drawings.

Which... in turn, would reverse what couldn't be undone… until now.

"Soon," he said aloud, in a low whisper, speaking to the ones that were no longer with him. Speaking to _her._

The papers described his ambitions to the tiniest of details, carefully laid down in the late hours he spent when the moon was up, to the moment the sun peaked above the horizon. He had bided his time. He had waited and observed patiently as the preparations were being completed. Everything had gone exactly as he wanted it to.

It was all flawless. Perfect. Without a mistake.

Nothing could go wrong this time.

He glanced at his notebook, his eyes blinking as he read the words already well-rehearsed in his mind.

_Reunite. Redemption. Revenge._

The three words drove him on. They had shaped the print and outlines inside his notebook… they were the foundation of months of careful and tedious planning. They made him who he was, then and there.

He couldn't let _this _escape from his grasp. He was done with fleeting dreams. He was going to make this work

He looked up, still clasping the notebook with his numb fingers.

The core of his scheming... the heart of this crisis was right there. Waiting for him to put it into good use.

The twisted, humanoid, orange-and-blue shape stood in the room before him, strapped tightly to the metal surface, a web of wires and sensors racing across its skin**.** It was still and unmoving, only raising its head slightly when he peered at it through the tempered glass to meet his gaze with its own, white eyes. He felt the challenge it was proposing to him.

_You dare try to tame _me_?_

He knew he was the only one it ever spoke to in the lab from within its glass confines. He was the only one who had heard its low, deep voice, often alternating between a facade of calmness and fierce aggression. He refused to cower.

The creature too, had the same resolve as him.

"Of course," he whispered softly, seeing the grotesque smile on his face in the glass's reflection. "It's only a matter of time until you're free to go."

Its thoughts echoed in his mind, with a trace of longing. _Freedom…_

He nodded. "All you have to do is cooperate."

_Liar!_

He flinched as the telepathic word pierced into his thoughts. Well, at least the creature knew the truth. He wanted nothing more than to _completely destroy _that thing.

Except… he couldn't. He needed it to achieve his goals.

He needed it to bring Selena back.

There was a tiny beep next to him. He turn his head to face it.

"_Aggression level, rising,"_ the object said in a mechanical voice, the red light flashing warningly. But...

It was the machine next to it that caught his attention.

_PROJECT-D._

"Ah," he said. "Yes."

Three buttons were set across it, divided evenly into a triangle shape, closely resembling a ruin painting he had seen in Sinnoh. It was connected to wires and tubes, snaking under the door and into the room that held the figure. He looked at two buttons briefly, before setting his eyes on the last one, set above all the others.

_Fuse._

It was there. All he had to do was press it. The preparations only had minor touches to get through. He didn't know if leaving any of them out would give the final result any unfixable effects, but…

He had waited long for this.

_Could I do it?_

"_Aggression level, rising,"_ the mechanical voice warned.

The orange-and-blue figure behind the glass was trembling, its eyes glaring at him with repulse and anger as the beeps from the machine got louder. _You are playing a dangerous game with the higher powers in this galaxy, little human._

He heard footsteps pounding outside his door, getting closer, barely audible above the rain pounding on the roof and windows. He disregarded it. It was almost time. He wouldn't let anything stop him.

"You'll get your freedom soon," he promised. "It's been awhile since you've seen the stars, hasn't it?"

The figure looked at him with contempt, but he could see that his words had shaken it. _I long to touch the sky again._

"You'll get exactly that, after we're… done with you." _Let's hope you'll still be able to fly when this is over._

The footsteps only got louder. They were headed straight for the room he was in.

"_Aggression level, rising."_ The beeps were faster and louder. "_Rising!"_

_Pitiful_, the figure sneered. _Humans think of themselves so highly._

He ignored it, still staring at the top, green button.

_Release me,_ it demanded.

"_Aggression level, rising!"_

The word etched above it tempted him.

_Fuse._

He reached out with his hand, his fingers numb from the cold air. The sky was lighting up outside the window, turning into a veil of pink and yellow where the skyline was, misty from the rain. His colleagues would be waking soon.

They couldn't stop him.

The notebook dropped to the ground, landing with a light _thump. _He strode over to the machine, moving his focus down to the smaller buttons. His hands pressed one button, then two, then it was moving swiftly and expertly across the panel, well-practised from weeks of preparations. A green light on the machine flashed, glowing dimly, signifying that it was ready to use.

He was almost there.

"_Aggression level, rising!"_

All he had to do was just...

The door swung open, snapping him out of his trance.

"What the hell are you doing, David?!" A man burst through the doors of the lab, wet hair flying, amber eyes blazing. Light reflected off the object in his hand- a pistol.

David's smile was crazed, his eyes gleaming. He pushed one more button.

_Click._

The machine was sent into a violent motion of whirs and clicks and rising liquids and glowing lights. The creature could no longer be seen, nothing more but a storm of glowing orange and spinning blues.

"_Aggression level dangerously rising."_

The man rushed toward him, his black cloak swirling behind him, gun pointing straight to David's face. "Don't make me do this, brother!"

He laughed, the sound echoing through the walls of the lab. Strangely, he didn't feel scared, nor was he trembling from trepidation. Before this all happened… he would have collapsed at his brother's feet, begging to be spared. He had gone too far to back down now. "Ah, you're late, Garrett."

His brother kept the pistol level to David's head, only a step away from killing his own blood. "Stop. _Now._ It isn't ready yet."

David shook his head, the smile never leaving his face. "Uh-huh. By the time you would've deemed it ready, we'd all be long gone. Just like Selena."

His kin flinched. "Selena? She…"

"She'll come back," David vowed. "Me and her. I'll give it all up, even if the world is reduced to just us two."

The voice of the alien being hissed inside his head. _A hopeless cause._

The gun faltered, its aim dropping. "This… this…" Garrett's face was strained with concentration. "This _mess _won't bring her back. Just turn it off. You'll only end up regretting it."

Regret?

_Reunite. Redemption. Revenge._

_I'm so close._

"I'm sorry, brother, it's too late now." His gaze dropped to the floor, his voice barely a whisper.

Realisation struck Garrett. His eyes widened. "No-" He shoved his brother under the cover of the nearest desk. The gun clattered to the floor.

Explosions. Light. A shockwave of sound. The supposedly impenetrable glass cage shattered, the whole area blasting into rubble.

A chunk of concrete and twisted iron flew straight at the desk, smashing through wood.

"_No signal, aggression… level… dropping..."_ The machine blew up, and its beeps ceased.

David didn't notice his brother beside him, blood staining the back of his head, mouth barely taking in shallow breaths that created brief-lasting fog in the cold morning.

David didn't notice the dust swirling around his feet as he stood up to survey the lab. He didn't notice it creep up to his throat and send him into fits of coughing.

David didn't notice the shattered glass and sparking equipment as he made his way to the room where so many tests where held.

David didn't notice the orange-and-blue photographs, which once neatly decorated the lab, now reduced to ashes and torn scraps of paper.

David didn't notice his notebook, once a valued treasure, slightly burned and coated in dust as his leather shoe slowly pressed down on it. Rain drizzled, dotting the white papers... like tears falling from the sky.

David didn't notice the hole that had burned straight through the two lower floors. He didn't notice the broken bodies jutting out of the debris, covered in dust and the pieces of his brother's lab. _The remnants of everything he worked for._

What he did notice, though, was one thing.

"He escaped."

* * *

**A/N**

**Skittlinq: LMAOO. I had my laptop confiscated in class for writing a bit of this when I wasn't supposed to… );;; sedlyf. Er… if any of you follow my other stories, I probably won't update them until mid-June (coughcoughexams), so yeah. sozzie. My main focus on FFN for now will be co-writing** _**Evanescence: A Harsh Violet **_**with Emo. Send your OCs to ****both of us****! Read the rules. :D ALSO. Emo lied. He wrote most of the amazing parts, and made sure everything flowed and stuff.**

**Emosewa: YAS! YAS! We did it! Collabs are so fun! Coincidentally, I got myself grounded when my mom caught me writing when I should've been designing modern houses. D: I really really feel this story's gonna be big. Many thanks to Skitt, for designing this awesome summary. I'll just claim credit for that descriptions. D: Also we might as well thank SDProductions for editing it. And while I'm at it, thanks to Roses for Ghosts and LakeStream for being really enthusiastic about this project.**


	2. Author's Note

**A/N:**

**Okay, so as some of you might've known by now, Skittlinq is leaving Fanfiction. Worry not, because this won't impact this story in any real way. I'll still be writing it; Skitt will just be writing less.**

**But this story isn't dead! And two very awesome people have made sure of that! Yes, Limeade Space Dorito and SDproductions will be our assistant writer and beta respectively! Whoo! This is now a collab party! They are both extremely cool people to be writing with, and they're both influencing E:AHV in many ways.**

**Also, I know you've been all waiting replies regarding OC's, and so far this is who we've accepted:**

**Justice and Temperance Sweets (SDproductions)**

**Percy and Julius Banks (Limeade Space Dorito)**

**Avery Ramirez (Roses for Ghosts)**

**Ruby Sipple (Moonspots)**

**Stephanie Bailey (ZorialWater)**

**Alastair Johannson (cometshadow)**

**Raiden Niles (PokeFreak45)**

**Now, if you don't see your OC here, do not worry! We're still discussing him/her, and we'll get back to the rest of you as soon as we can.**

**Also, most of the OC's powers seem to be really...vague. For those of you who have sent OC's, please resubmit the 'Powers' section using this format:**

**-Power Name- [Type/Ability power is derived from]**

**What the power does.**

**Here's a quick example:**

**-Lie Eater- [Justified]**

**Justice is able to detect if someone is lying to him. If he doesn't pay attention, or the speaker is not in his line of sight, he will not consciously realize that it is a lie. (How he does so is none of your damn business. :3 ~SD)**

**SD has volunteered to help with this; limitations, extensions, other-things-that-make-me-look-smart, etc. Feel free to PM him. I guarantee he will come up with a nifty paragraph on their powers.**

**Also, powers are now divided into three parts: Primary for their main basis of attack, Secondary for a more defensive one (flying, x-ray vision, etc) and an optional Tertiary one for passive powers, such as the 'Lie Eater' described above.**

**And Limeade Space Dorito is awesome with characters. If you're worried yours truly isn't getting in, shoot them a PM. They have lots of awesome feedback on all your characters, and will aid you along.**

**Also, for those of you confused on the official statuses of my other stories, feel free to check my profile.**

**Also, I would've have asked Skitt for an A/N, but I feel she's very busy, so if ever she wants to type one out, I'll just update this.**

**Limeade Space Dorito: Hey I'm Limeade and I'm super excited to be working on this and Epic of Chang with Emosewa (who is awesomely brilliant). If you have any OC-related questions I'm here for you. I am but a harmless meme, so feel free to talk to me!**

**SD: If I seem familiar, that's probably because I'm insidiously inserting myself into every awesome SYOC fic in the fandom. :3 But seriously, it's a pleasure to be working with the two (well, three, Skitt's not definitively out yet) of them, and I'll be sure to work well in tandem with you guys too. Here's to looking forward to more, both from Emo, and *psst* from me in the very-near future. Cheers! XD**

**P.S.**

**Take it easy on my inbox, guys~ Emo (JK I can't wait to hear from you all)**


	3. Chapter 1 - Into The Storm

**A/N:**

**Emosewa: Whew! I'm super relieved and extremely glad that we managed to get this done! Even though it's been like.. what..? Two weeks? Well, I couldn't have done it without those three awesome writers below me! Be warned, though, this could get.. a little... messed up. (Blame SD and the Danganronpa fandom.)**

**Skittlinq: [*tumbleweed*] **

**SD: ...Yeah, unfortunately, Skitt's been noticeably absent. We're not quite sure where she went, but we have faith she'll be back soon enough. In any case, I'm pretty sure we've managed a decent first chapter, but let's turn it over to you guys to find out. And I'm pretty sure that wasn't *that* messed up-**

**Limeade: Eyyo first chapter with me and SD lets get a round of applause!**

***silence ensues***

**Uhhh… well a silent ovation works too... Shia surprise!? (there's a gun in his hand and death in his eyes). Yeah but I'm excited and I think that this chapter was pretty...darn...good. **

**Oh, and another thing: Epic of Chang is finally online! You can find it on my profile. It's a Legend of Korra fanfiction and a collab between me and Emo and you should all read it. And review it. Yes, even you. You know who you are. **

**SD: Meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep.**

**Emosewa: OOOON WITH THE STORYY!**

* * *

**SD: In other news, many of you may or may not have seen the update notif that occurred, like, uh, half a day ago. That was probably the work of a hacker - because our draft of Chapter 1 right then was unfinished, so it ended up released ahead of schedule and before we were able to write in the last few things. .-. I've had to hack into Emo's account myself to take it down - which, well, I'm not proud of, but let's not dwell on that. It's also why I'm posting this chapter on his behalf, as it were.**

**In any case, we assure you that such an incident will absolutely not happen again. Now, read on, and enjoy!**

* * *

**Evanescence: A Harsh Violet**

**Chapter One: **_**Into the Storm**_

_**There are two ways to lose your innocence. **_

_**Pray you only ever have to experience one.**_

* * *

_\- Walt -_

I was eleven when it started.

It didn't have a name at first. It was passed off as a severe case of the flu, or a new epidemic, or whatever. Nothing out of the ordinary, and the higher-ups didn't think much of it.

Then it killed off half of Ecruteak's population - along with my mother, and it was then they started to worry.

The news reports came in by the dozens. As each city was evacuated, another one fell into madness. And of course, the government made their little checklist of symptoms.

Didn't do them much good, though. They were forced to revise them over and over, as the virus began to evolve. Heck, the checklist became effectively useless as time went on, because the people who made it also became effectively useless when _they_ died.

Anyways, the month after the breakout, Dad moved us to Hoenn.

If he was still here, this is where I'd go, "_Niiiice, Dad. Great parenting." _But to be fair, I didn't know at that time. Well, no one did, now I think about it.

The first life it had taken from my new school in Hoenn was a girl named Jill. She was examining her Jell-O closely, wondering if there was a bug in it, or just a raisin. So, of course, everyone and their mothers decided they wanted to give their opinion on it, and crowded around her to look. She flicked the gelatin with her fork, the blob of red shaking.

I was sipping my apple juice box, wondering if I should focus on the drink or help her figure it out_. Odds on the drink, _I thought, when her eyes suddenly rolled back in her head, and she collapsed on the table, her fork clattering onto said table, the Jell-O toppling off its plate and splattering all over the cold floor.

A teacher rushed over, and it was only when another kid named Aaron had nudged her hand with his foot, that any of us had thought she was dead.

_She's dead, _the thought was like a lightning bolt through my skull, _And she didn't even get to find out if it was a bug or a raisin._

After that, the government gave it a name. At the time, though, I just hadn't been told it yet, but, of course, I had to find out eventually: it had been named 'the Delta Virus'.

School. That was all I knew. Our lack of 'useless, crappy soul-sucking junk of mindless entertainment and brainwashing propaganda' - you people call it a TV - and the International Police-grade 'children-safety' internet protocols on our computer pretty much ensured my ignorant bliss.

That was, of course, until I found it. My teacher had given it to me, in those pastel blue envelopes, stapled; meant for no one's eyes but my father's.

_For Mr. Grayson_, she scribbled in her purple pen. I knew that pen. Purple meant she was stressed. Purple meant emergencies.

So, of course, the first thing I did when I got home was hand it to him without a second thought.

When I'd found it again, it was by accident. I was looking for the cookies Dad kept for 'stressful moments' - he usually kept them in a box at the top of the kitchen shelf, behind the worn-out cookbooks that smelled like burnt cinnamon and the crisp peppermint perfume Mom used to wear.

There weren't any cookies. But it was there, the unstapled paper sticking out of _Sweet Tooth's Guide_, and out of its pastel blue envelope. I wasn't supposed to read it. I knew that. And I broke my reputation of being the 'good boy' that day.

I _accidentally_ grabbed it instead of the cookies, trying to figure out what was so stressful that it called for the dreaded purple ink. What I found was a paper titled 'How to check your child for Delta Virus symptoms'. Before I could unfold it, though...

_Don't do this; just stay the good boy! _The obedient, innocent part of my mind said.

_Eh. You've been the good boy long enough! One little act isn't sending that all spiraling down, _the rest of my mind argued back.

_Brownie points!_

_The rush of adrenaline that comes with rebellion!_

_Your dad wouldn't like it!_

_He won't mind if you peek!_

_Um...your mom!_

_Oh, hell no, you did not just play that card._

_What are you gonna do about it- AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!_

_There. Now, kid, open it._

And so I did. I unfolded the paper and began to read.

* * *

**How to check your child for Delta Virus symptoms**

**Most prominent symptoms:**

A sudden decrease in attention span

Spurts of-

* * *

I paused to tie my shoelaces, which had come undone, before continuing to stare at the sheet of paper.

* * *

**How to check your child for Delta Virus symptoms**

**Most prominent symptoms:**

A sudden decrease in attention span

Spurts of high fever

IF YOUR CHILD STARTS BURNING UP OR MENTALLY LIFTING CHAIRS WITH HIS MIND PLEASE CONTACT GOVERNMENT HOTLINE IMMEDIATELY.

Sudden appearances of dark markings; sometimes resembling elements (i.e, psychic symbols, rain drops, fire, lightning bolts, etc.)

* * *

_Nope, nope, definitely nope._ I ticked off the points in my head. _But that last one..._

Impossible. But...what else could it have been?

Just that same morning, a crooked _X _had seared itself onto my skin, in the area between my neck and shoulder, sending tingles down my spine. Even now, I felt it throb like a dull ache, like an itch just out of my reach. But that's not the worst part. What was it, you ask?

It glowed. Like an inner lamplight melted into my skin, the symbol ignited me, and had me signified as different. Pegged as unusual.

Marked as dangerous.

Of course, I had to give the letter to my father. And yes, I did tell him about the X.

He stopped talking to me after that. I wish he would have told me why, before he...well…

This next part...it's kind of hard for me to tell. Just.. bear with me, okay?

I don't know when it happened, or how it all went down. It was, and still remains, a blur. A rain-streaked painting of dull yellow school buses and cigar-smelling men in tuxedos.

But when the man with the red badge came knocking on our door, there was one clear thought in my mind:

_Run_.

Slowly, quietly, when Dad wasn't looking, I crept toward the back door. I opened it, slowly.

That didn't stop the creak the door let out. Oops.

"Walt, don't-!" Dad had warned, rushing after me.

The man with the badge barreled past him, and lunged for me.

I didn't look back, just ran as fast as my legs could take me - but it wasn't enough. He came, quickly, and picked me up, his badge biting into my skin as his thick arms closed around me. He brought me back to Dad, whose face was grim, skin taut with emotion.

"Listen to me," he had whispered, clutching my head in both hands, staring into my eyes. "You gotta go with them, okay champ? You gotta do this for me. They'll fix you… no matter what happens, they'll fix you. I promise."

And he placed a kiss on my head, before the man with the badge took me away.

A bus. This was where he brought me. It had already been filled, with dozens of other kids, some older, some younger. The air tingled with anticipation and fear - that's all I remembered. The pressing, hot warmth of the bus… the faces blurring by… all of them marked, like me.

Most of us didn't make it. Died in our seats, the marks forever etched on our skin, a constant reminder of the menace we had unwillingly become. Later, they'd think of painting the windows black.

You know, as if a little ink would be able to gloss over what they were planning on doing to us.

Looking back on it now, I don't know who was luckier. Me or Jill.

It's ironic, really. Even in death, the marks on our dead classmates still glowed, and would probably stay glowing through their unlife. As for the rest of us, _our_ glows dimmed, before ceasing to exist.

Effectively, the marks that made us Faders just...faded.

The man with the red badge stood up, and the bus rolled to a stop. His voice was gruff, _sharp _and rough, like sandpaper.

"Get 'em in chains," he growled, tying a bandana around his face.

_Such a good boy_, Dad would've said. I probably would have made him proud if he knew that I let them chain me; that I obediently held my hands out for them to tie; that my feet stayed still as they loosely tied my ankles together.

There was a sign, just off the broken road. Burnt and covered with soot, with a chunk of wood rotting off, the only visible part of it was '_ridge'_.

So that's what we called the place. _The Ridge_.

There we were, tied up together, taking one small step after another. They watched us closely; the men with bandanas, the women in labcoats, the guards. We were being filed into a dark building.

The whole area was surrounded by a rusty electric fence, with a legion of guards and people toting badges- Blitzers, we'd call them later on- loosely circling the building.

We moved slowly, shuffling our feet, straining against the chains. Soft, dark snow had begun to fall, and in the distance I heard the cries of Mandibuzz - the only creatures who'd dare to enter a city as broken as this one.

Not too far from the building, a teen tied to a rusty telephone pole caught my eye. He shivered in the cold, sweat and soot clinging to his skin, whispering quietly to himself, eyes squeezed shut as silent tears dripped of his face.

From behind me, I heard Aaron mumbling something to himself. He pretended to trip and I helped him up as he whispered into my ear, "We can make it...we can still escape. No one'll expect it."

But could I? I was daddy's little boy. I was the winner of the 'Best Behaved' award. Could I run away as easily as I let them chain me?

"Aaron. Don't," was my only reply.

He ignored me. He sped up, ankles moving awkwardly between the ropes, as he made for the electric fence, as the gate was just beginning to close.

The Blitzer who'd caught me ran up to him, but Aaron let out a shockwave of air and sound, blasting the area around him, pushing everyone in a three-meter radius back.

For the first time in the brief period I'd known him, Aaron was smiling. He had imbued himself with hope; he was going to escape, to return to whatever boring everyday life he had been forced to leave behind.

He was so close, too.

_Bang!_

A gun. In that split-second, my friend had died.

When my eyes refocused on his now-dead corpse, a neat little hole had appeared between his eyes. He was smiling - looked so peaceful, like he'd just gone back to sleep from a nightmare.

I forced the bile that was rising up my throat back down. The others weren't so lucky - I felt a warm, chunky substance envelop my shoes, as I stepped into a puddle of vomit.

Forcibly, they had ushered the rest of us inside. I followed, but they couldn't stop my tears or the silent screams.

Harsh voices. Blinding lights. Rods poking and prodding me. They lined us up in a corridor, and one by one, we entered. When they went in, they didn't come out.

Soon, it was my turn.

"W-where are you taking us?" My mouth moved robotically, more of an instinct then an actual question. Did it matter, anyway? It's not like they would change their minds. It's not like I could escape. We'd all just end up dead.

Just like Aaron.

No one responded. _...Right_, I thought, _Why should I have even expected a response...?_

They cut off the ropes around my wrists and legs and shoved me in. The first thing I noticed was the brightness. Blinding, white light. No, not the dreary sunlight that filtered through the drafty building. It seemed almost...clinical.

I took a step inside. It didn't look like what I would have expected- but what did I expect, anyway? No matter. Couldn't change it. We'd still end up dead.

Just like Aaron.

"Hello, Walter Grayson. Come on in; no one's going to hurt you now," said a man in a labcoat, a reassuring smile (that I didn't find at all reassuring) creasing the smile lines on his face. With his warm brown eyes and salt-and-pepper beard, he looked like a man who should be bouncing grandchildren on his knee, not working with people who kill children.

Children like Aaron.

I didn't move. My copper eyes returned the stare with a glare.

"C'mon, it's okay. Do you want to lie down?" Unfazed by my actions, he patted a hospital-style bed next to him.

Yeah, as if the bed design would make us feel safe. But what happened on that bed was _anything _but safe, I knew.

Just look at Aaron.

"You know," he started after a moment of silence, "This is going to be harder on you if you don't cooperate," he ended slowly.

I did what you think I did - I didn't cooperate.

"What colour are you?" He said abruptly. "All Faders are classified by a colour." His voice had changed, taking on a placid, hypnotic tone. He took a step closer.

"What colour are you?"

A terrible, pulsing ache rattled my skull. I couldn't think, couldn't feel, nothing but the echoing pain pounding inside my head. I gasped, my knees buckling under me. "I-I-I don't know what you're talking about!"

"Are you a Red? Reds are particularly stubborn, not to mention dangerous." His voice echoed in my head and reverberated around the room, which had begun to spin and blur.

A macabre display lighted up behind my eyes. It was of a teenage girl, bruised and bloody, her ankles and wrists chained together with burned shackles full of soot, and a mouthguard strapped over her face.

Or what was left of it, really, considering the rest of her head - the area above her nose - was gone. How, I really didn't want to find out, considering the bile that was building up in the back of my throat.

"Maybe you're a Brown? Browns are extremely strong."

Another image danced around in my head, this one of a fairly muscular man. In fact, he was so muscular, I could see every tendon, every sinew bulging out from his now-dead, completely red body- he'd been skinned.

I couldn't move a muscle. I willed my hand to cover my mouth, but whatever this scientist was doing to me, it was too strong. I couldn't even close my eyes to spare the pain - whatever this man had done to me, he was preventing me from blinking too. "I don't know! I- I don't know!"

"Or.. perhaps you're a Green. Greens are very in touch with nature."

A third, much less gory, but just as unsettling display lit up, the girl in it hanging from her neck by a vine.

With enormous effort, I forced the contents of my stomach back down my throat, and screamed, "This is wrong! Why would you do such a thing?!"

All was silent for a moment, before the man laughed cruelly.

"I see. But of course; someone as strong-willed as you will obviously be in the more dangerous colours: Violet."

If only I'd been stronger. If only I had stopped him...He wouldn't have ended up like that.

The fourth display merely contained a lifeless body, a bullet hole dead center in the middle of the forehead.

It was Aaron.

I couldn't take it. In an instant, the ground beneath me was slick with vomit, and what undigested remains of my last meal found a new home on the grainy wood floor.

"_What are you?" _He demanded one more time.

Another throb surged in my head, and I collapsed on the floor. "I'm- I'm a Violet.. Just stop.. make it stop.."

"Disappointing. It looks like you're just another weakling who gets to live."

Those were last words I heard before blacking out. The images that had burned themselves behind my eyes faded, and was replaced with a calming black.

* * *

What happened, after that? They brought me to a rusty little building, next to rows of countless more, all filled with us...Faders. Day after day, we were strapped down on tables, forced to do things even I don't want to remember...They poked and prodded all over our bodies to incite some form of reaction, and subjected us to all manner of experiments. Day after day, they worked on us ruthlessly, making us carry large boulders over hills just to push them back down.

And when we resisted? They tied us to those poles, and they left us there for days. To shiver in the cold, sweat under the heat, without any food or water.

Many of us died under the pressure. Those who were unlucky enough to survive were made to undergo even worse torture, and the worst part, was that we didn't know what for...

Maybe, after all these years, maybe going with Aaron was the better alternative. How long has it been? Too long.

Five years...Five long years, I've been trapped in this hellhole. Tomorrow is a special day, because it marks the fifth-year anniversary of Aaron's death.

And in honour of his attempted escape, I'm going to do the same.

Only this time, I'll succeed where he failed.

Wish me luck, Aaron.

* * *

**Emosewa: I DID WARN YOU. But hey, I think it got the point across. But yeah.. we did good, right? Collabs are so diddly darn fun. **

**SD: Oh come on, it wasn't even that bad. I had to **_**tone it down, **_**for goodness' sake.**

**Limeade: [*wakes up*] Nope. [*falls back asleep*] Time zones, man. I hate em. **

**SD: So…that's about it...Yeah. ETA of next chapter is...Hopefully, just under a month. Or something - depends on how much the other two here are willing to work with. :3 Me, on the other hand, I'll just fade back into obscurity...Or at least until Skitt comes back. ;-;**

**Skittlinq: [404 Not Found]**

**Emo: *cue cricket noises* Aaand, to be fair, we're not gonna take a month for the next chap! It's kinda sorta been rotting on our doc since the Prologue came out...ANYWAYS READ AND REVIEW KTHXBAI *swooces out***

**SD: And that's the tale of our very odd day. I'm logging myself back out right now, I guess. Cheers.**


	4. Chapter 2 - Run

**A/N:**

**Skittlinq: Skittlinq is typing…**

**SD: Totally called it. Then again, it's bound to happen when two out of the three- no, four, of us kickstarted yet another SYOC story for yet another different fandom, so oh well.**

**Emo: Meeeeeep. It's been around three weeks since our last update. Oops. Well, wait no longer, 'cause here it is! And I think you'll be glad to know the first half is 80% Skittlinq! Sorry if it seems to drag on at first, or if Ariel seems whiny. At the very least, I hope she's interesting, or relatable. And the fact she isn't one of those veins-of-steel, super determined, don't-feel-pain kind of protagonists should be a refreshing change.**

**I couldn't have done this without the rest of the gang, so many thanks, as always. AND LET'S GIVE A ROUND OF APPLAUSE FOR OUR MAGNIFICENT BETA, COMETSHADOW! :D**

**She's been a great help, really. :)**

**But I think I've stalled long enough, so without further ado, here's chapter two!**

**(…that rhymed.)**

**(I'm a poet, don't you know it?)**

* * *

**Chapter Two: Run**

_**Reading is one form of escape.**_

_**Running for your life is another.**_

* * *

_\- Ariel -_

It was always the same dream. A retelling of what happened that day, a requiem for the lives lost. It played in black and white, like a film without sound, with only the faint buzzing in the background to indicate that it was nothing more than a memory. The only other colour was red. Red for the blood spilt, red like the badges the Blitzers had pinned to their chests.

I was running. But I didn't know why I was running… and I was a six-year-old again, clinging to a toy teddy-bear, sobbing hysterically.

Perfect. Even in my nightmares, I'm embarrassing myself.

There were gunshots that only got louder with every step I took. Everything seemed to blur past me. I heard footsteps… were they following me? I couldn't tell. The adrenaline from the fear dulled my senses.

_Run. Don't stop._

Running was what my school teacher instructed me to do. That was the only thing on my mind. There was sweat on my forehead, my platinum-blonde hair sticking to it. My breathing was ragged, and my throat hurt. A part of me knew that it was a dream… but everything felt so _real_.

_Don't stop until they leave. Run. Hide. _

...And who were...'they'?

My schoolteacher always praised me for being obedient. I would have kept running, until my shoes wore out and my feet were sore. But I couldn't.

More specifically, I tripped.

Suddenly, my foot hit something hard. Yelping, I flew forward, the teddy bear flying out of my hands. It landed a few feet in front of me, sprawled on the floor on top of a white pile of its own stuffing, the sewn smile on its face unchanged.

Gravity, 1; Ariel Castor, 0.

_Naughty girl,_ I imagined my teacher saying. _Why didn't you run?_

That was where the dream would get vivid. Then the sounds grew louder, the footsteps moved faster, and the trees regained their autumn colours.

Then the screams started. But… Were they _my_ screams?

My fear intensified. My heart pounded in my chest, my breaths becoming quicker and shallower- the world my nightmare had created spun and blurred.

Then I would start to realize… I would remember that it all wasn't real. I was just living in a memory: a nightmare that's been haunting me since the incident at Lavaridge. I'd tried scrunching my eyes, pinching myself, hitting myself… anything to wake up.

It didn't work. It _never _worked.

The footsteps stopped. A shadow towered over me. There was a pointed shape in his hand… a click.

A gun…?

I scrunched my eyes, bracing myself.

Nothing happened. I couldn't tell how long I had my eyes shut for. I was busy praying for a painless death.

It didn't come.

"Ariel! Get up!"

It was my schoolteacher's voice.

Somewhere off in the distance, she was shouting. I could tell by looking at the shadow that the figure behind me had turned around, the gun in his hand no longer pointing at me.

"Ariel!" she shouted again.

Her passionate voice fueled me, and suddenly, the will to live filled my entire being. I was an obedient schoolgirl, and I was expected to obey the teachers without question.

"What are you doing? Get up! Run! Ariel!" she pleaded, bordering hysteric.

That was her last lesson for me.

_Get up. Run._

I scrambled up and took off, jumping over my toy, not bothering to pick it up.

That toy. That toy that my father had given me the night before he vanished. That toy that gave me comfort in raging storms, when my room was too dark to move around in. It's comforting, sewn smile unchanging, no matter how bad I felt, and I left it in the dust. That last testament to my childhood, the only surviving evidence of the life I lived before.

And I left it there to rot.

"Ariel!"

There was a gunshot. A scream. A loud thud.

Then it was just my heavy breathing, as I ran.

_Ariel…_

My teacher's voice echoed through my mind.

_Run… Ariel…_

My vision blurred.

_Ariel…_

Her voice seemed different… it was more shrill.

"Ariel!"

Something cold splashed onto my face. My eyes flew open, and I shot up from my position, sputtering out the water.

"Wake up!"

For a second I didn't move. I let my vision clear and watched as the hazy light gave way to the solid, bare room I called home. Waiting for my pulse to settle, the sunlight filtering through the window, chasing off any memories of my nightmare.

Once I shook off the nightmare, any fear I felt was now replaced with hollow anger. How _dare _she interrupt my knee-shaking, downright terrifying nightmare!

...That was sarcastic, by the way.

"W-what the hell was t-that f-for?" I demanded, my teeth chattering.

A red-headed girl was standing over me, looking down on me with her green eyes, a playful smirk on her lips. In her hands was a worn-out, plastic bucket, half-filled with what looked suspiciously like rainwater.

_Cold_ rainwater.

I sneezed. "Thank you for that positively _lovely_ wake-up call."

Vivi, one of the few people left in this world that I could call a friend, grinned. "You're welcome. You were making a lot of noise in your sleep."

I blinked. "Was I now?"

Vivi's solution every time that happened: Throw a bucket of water onto my face to wake me up. It never failed, so she stuck to that method. Typical.

"Yeah! Like this." She made a pathetic, whimpering sound that sounded like a starved Growlithe begging for treats. "See?"

"Right," I said flatly, unimpressed. I gave myself and the room a once-over- _one, two, three, four limbs, room not demolished, knife on the table…_ Everything seemed to be in perfectly good order. Yawning, I began to relax.

Vivi's efforts to imitate me were appreciated, but… How could she be so carefree? We were the only escapees from Lavaridge, meeting up hours after the Blitzers had left the city with the "infected" inhabitants chained up... or dead.

But, then again, my parents had both been killed, and her parents weren't even infected… just taken. Maybe she was one of the lucky ones that were immune to the Delta Virus.

That still didn't tell me if her bubbly self was sincere, or if it was just a facade.

… Or maybe it was just her own way of dealing with the way things had turned out.

Vivi looked outside the small cut-out that we called a window. The treehouse was high in a sycamore tree, overlooking the ravaged land below. Dust and soot had replaced what we once called grass, and the small buildings which people once lived in were now reduced to rubble.

The leaves mainly shielded our 'home' from the casual eye, but it wasn't hard to find if you looked closely. I shivered as a breeze came in, whether from the actual breeze or the fear that the Blitzers were searching for me, I didn't know.

The Blitzers and their ash-grey weapons, designed to stun and electrocute. The Blitzers, with their red badges and their strength and their disregard for life and their cruelty and their-

_Liars liars killers they kill kill kill-_

_Ariel run run run RUN-!_

_Click. Bang!_

_I'm sorry teacher I tripped-_

"Hey! The sky's all clear!" Vivi's voice cut through my thoughts.

I tore myself away from the window and back into the room. "Don't say it, don't say it, don't say it..." I murmured, but my hand was already reaching for my knife, almost as if it had its own mind.

"Which means, we can go out today!"

The instant she said that, I wanted to curl up and go back to my dream.

But I suppressed the urge to run away. _Not this time, Ariel. Do it for Mom. For Dad. For Mrs. Villoria._

Going outside, well, it wasn't exactly something I was good at, and the fact that friends were something in scarce supply in my life didn't help.

The treehouse sort-of became a "safe zone" for me. It had survived through the chaos of Lavaridge's break-down; it had lived through the skirmishes between the Blitzers and the people like m. It had witnessed the deaths of countless of soldiers in the war between Johto and Hoenn. If this great oak could survive that long, what would stop it from protecting me?

Still, I was leaving. I had to. And I would, like it or not.

Vivi leaned out of the tree and began the precarious climb down our safehouse. "C'mon, Ariel! We don't have all day!"

I swung my legs out of our tree house and followed her down. My hands and feet ghosted over its bark efficiently, trained from years of scaling the tree. My shoes fit into every foothold, hands slipped easily into any cracks in the wood.

"Do you even know where we're going?" I asked once we reached the bottom.

Vivi's energetic mood faltered. "...Um."

My palm flew to my forehead. Leave it up to Vivi to come up with a plan. "The town, right? There's a carnival this week, I think."

She brightened up instantly. "Yeah! That's right! We can go sneak in, maybe _borrow_ some money, y'know?!"

I nodded slowly. "That's a start, at least…"

Vivi lead the way, bouncing off towards the road, while I walked a pace behind, trying to untangle the bed-hair I'd received from sleeping on it. My eyes warily scanned the area as we walked, keeping watch. Arceus knows Vivi couldn't keep an eye out for danger if her life depended on it.

Which it did, unfortunately. The trees were withered, most of them reduced to stumps, nothing but the large ones surviving. The grass was dead and dry, and there wasn't a Pokemon in sight. People say something much bigger happened here than the disease; the chaos of rushing Blitzers and soldiers battling couldn't have done this much damage.

Me? I say it did. If it could kill my family, my classmates, my teacher, then why the heck could it not take nature with them?

Vivi's waving hand brought me out of my thoughts. "Earth to Ariel, are you there? C'mon, let's go!"

I froze, and my hand instinctively went for the knife stored in the back pocket of my jeans. I was always caught off-guard in moments like this. I froze like a freaking Deerling in the headlights, and my mind raced through the top ten easiest ways to justify that this was a bad idea.

But whatever. We're going to do this. This time, I'm not running.

I nodded. "Let's do this."

* * *

Nobody really pays attention to you when you're living- or at least, pretending to live -in a war-ravaged town. Everyone's heads were kept low, their eyes shifting over to your face but not quite reaching your eyes, flickering toward them just before they turn away. _I've got my own problems to attend to_, their gazes said. _No need to worry 'bout those teenagers over there._

Studying people's faces was something I do often (at least back in the day where I met other people besides Vivi), but I tried as much as possible not to do it in this town.

_Did your parents die, too?_ I'd think after glancing at a grade-schooler's worried face.

_Were your children taken away? Do you miss them? _The thought would pop into my head when I walked past a downhearted couple.

Vivi seemed right at home here- in a town, with actual, living, _breathing _people. Her red hair bobbed up and down with every step, a playful grin on her face. Just like a regular, proper human being.

If there's one thing I'll give her credit for, it's her ability to belong.

And also her pickpocketing skills.

"Oh, excuse me!" Vivi bumped into a distracted teen wearing earphones, the charming smile never leaving her face- even when her hand sneaked into his back pocket and pulled out a few crumpled pokedollars.

I followed Vivi down a street, and she nudged her chin toward a businessman wearing a rather expensive suit. He was talking on the phone, a briefcase swinging from his free hand.

I took off at a half-sprint, on a collision course straight for the businessman. He didn't notice me until it was too late.

"Yes, I'll be shortly- _oomph_!"

Bullseye.

"Oh! I'm so sorry sir! I didn't see you there, and-"

He waved me off. "No, it's fine, it's fine, just get out of the way!"

Vivi came running into the scene. "Sandy! You are such a klutz! I'm really sorry sir, my sister's always bumping into things," she said, patting him reassuringly on the shoulder.

When he left, I elbowed her. "'Sandy'?"

She smirked. "You _did _always complain about me using your real name…"

We headed for an alleyway between a closed-down barber shop and a presumably closed down- or at the very least, without any customers or visible staff -cafe.

Vivi emptied the contents of our loot - a total of five thousand pokedollars, a bubble-gum wrapper (how'd _that _get there?) and a pair of rusty coins. Not the best we've done, but we would manage.

"Huh." She frowned, taking a peek into the wallet. "You'd think rich people would carry more cash in their wallets."

"It's called having a bank account," I said, picking up the money (and leaving the wrapper). "Plus, do you really think _anyone _would carry a lot of cash in a place like this?"

"Good point. Now, let's eat!"

"Okay. This should be enough for a half-decent lunch, assuming there are any restaurants open."

Vivi tapped her chin. "Well, there's always that place between that 'haunted house' and the ex-military bunker."

I stuffed our earnings inside my pocket. "Sounds perfect."

* * *

"We'll have two of those ham-and-cheese sandwiches," Vivi said as we sat down at our table, after entering the restaurant. The waiter nodded and left to collect our food.

"So far, so good…" Vivi grinned, punching my shoulder playfully.

"Don't you dare jinx this!" I loudly-whispered, slapping her hand away.

"Gosh, Sandy, lighten up…" The words died on her lips as Blitzers- a whole squad of them -entered the restaurant.

My mouth went instantly dry. I didn't dare to breathe, just slowly shifting my face away from their line of sight.

They sat down at the large table diagonally across from us. One of them raised a hand. "We need a menu over here, please."

"Yes, sir," the waiter, who was carrying our sandwiches, squeaked, before setting them down at our table and rushing for a menu.

Vivi did an incredibly good job at ignoring the fact that _murdering, heartless Blitzers _were less than six feet away from us.

I didn't even touch my sandwich, before raising my hand. "Um. Can we have our bill, please? We're gonna have to make mine to-go, thank you."

A waitress gave me a confused look, but she left to meet our needs.

"That will be four thousand, six-hundred and forty pokedollars," she said once she returned, holding a paper disposable bag.

I put in my sandwich, and paid the exact amount. Vivi and I stood up, did our best to leave the scene quietly.

"Hey-"

I didn't look back - just broke out in a sprint. _ Run run run run run run run-_

"-you forgot to leave a tip!"

_...Whoops._

"Wait a minute…Hey, come back!"

It was my nightmare all over again. _Run. Don't stop._

Dashing out of the restaurant, Vivi and I followed our usual procedure when it came to escaping - always go left. We raced down the street, before coming to an intersection.

"There they are! Get 'em!"

_Run-_

"Quick, Ariel, in here!"

_Don't stop-_

My arm was dragged off, and before I knew it, we were in a shop. I only managed a quick glance at its name - 'Sweets Candy and Confectionary' - before I was unceremoniously thrown over the counter, and landed below the cash register.

Vivi landed right beside me, and the two of us kept our head down, listening out for the Blitzers.

"Oi, Geoffrey, which way did the girls go?"

"Hell if I know! I thought you were watching them!"

"Shut up, idiots! Just split up! If anyone finds them, you have my permission to kill on sight!"

"Yes, sir!"

Following the chorus of echoed voices, we heard running, and lots of it. It faded off into the distance.

"Are they gone?" I whispered to Vivi.

"They sure are." A new voice quipped from above us.

"Woah!" The two of us scrambled back. A dark green-haired, hazel-eyed guy who had to be no older than eighteen strode over to us, grinning ear to ear. "You young ladies don't happen to be Faders, do you?"

I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing came out.

"Just blow our cover, why don't ya?" The first voice remarked. "The big H chose us for a reason, and revealing our identities ain't one of 'em."

I looked back at the first one who spoke. She looked to be about sixteen, with minty-green hair and amber eyes.

"Well now, the Blitzers don't go around chasing petty thieves, don't they? You ladies are definitely Faders," the boy responded, the smile never leaving his face. "I'm sure of it."

This time, my mouth finally decided to cooperate. "Uh… No idea what you're talking about… We gotta be going… thanks anyway-"

I began hurriedly tapping at Vivi's arm. _Let's go let's go get out get OUT._

"We don't bite. Don't worry," the first one smirked, her amber eyes gleaming. "At any rate, we're friendlier than those red-badged freaks out there."

"C'mon, simple choice." He held out a hand, "Who do you trust more? Us, or their guns?"

"Neither. Now we must be going!" I yelled, hopping back over the counter and dragging Vivi with me, in a reversal of our roles entering the establishment.

"You left your sandwich, fair maidens!"

"We have bigger problems than sandwiches," I muttered, not looking back.

Pausing for a split-second to check for the presence of Blitzers, I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw that there were none in the present area.

"Back to the safehouse." Vivi said, from behind me. "But which way?"

"Look, it's them!"

We turned at the sound to see one of the Blitzers pointing our way from down the street. Well, at least that made our decision much easier.

"Anywhere but there!" We dashed off in the opposite direction, ducking and weaving around the common citizens.

_Run. Don't stop._

Eventually, we had to slow down and catch our breath in a side road. I wasn't sure how far we had run - but it's not like anyone would pay attention to the number of blocks they'd covered when their life's on the line, right?

"Hey."

I whirled around to see where the voice came from, hoping against hope that the Blitzers hadn't caught up again.

It was a girl in her...late teens? Maybe even early twenties?

Her eyes flashed. "Head over there- the alleyway between those shops. They won't find you- or at least, it'll be harder for them to."

_Do I trust her? She could be working for the Blitzers-_

"Thank you miss!" Vivi practically screamed, before grabbing my arm and directing the both of us down said alleyway.

"Seriously, Vivi! That could've been a trap!"

"Would you rather know you're about to be shot at for sure, or take the possibility that maybe we would have a lowered chance at getting shot at?"

"I'd rather not be shot at all, thank you very much!"

"Well, at least that girl was right! Look, they've missed us."

I swung my head around. She was right - the Blitzers had skimmed us over and were heading for the street opposite where we were.

"That's good...Okay, keep running!" I yelled back, "We can't be far now!"

And not be far we were, as, minutes later, Vivi and I appeared on a side road leading out of the town. We were home- free!

_Run. Don't stop. Run. Don't stop._

"H-Huh?! What the-"

_Run. Don't stop. Run. Don't stop._

"Stop! Stop _right now _or I shoot!"

_Run. Don't stop. Run. Don't stop. Ru-_

_**Bang!**_

"AIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEE!"

It was Vivi's scream that snapped me out of my stupor.

_Run. Run. Run? RUN? __**RUN**__?_

What good would it do us?

Everything seemed to slow down. Blood roared in my ears, the noise deafening.

I turned around to see Vivi slump to the ground. Her eyes were wide open, a mixture of fear and shock still dancing inside her green orbs. Her back was bloody. Red, darker than her hair, deep and rich, flowed from the wound, seeping through her clothes, dripping onto the grass lighter than her eyes.

_Nothing. Nothing. All. For. Nothing._

That didn't just happen. Vivi didn't get shot. This isn't real.

_Wake up wake up wake up- !_

_Run run__** RUN**__?_

_No no no no NO no-_

_Not real, this isn't real not real not real not real not real-_

The blood continued to spread.

I felt a crack, a pull, a splinter. In my chest, something tugging on my insides. A heat washed over my body, wrapping around me. It was like my emotions decided to play tug-of-war with my heart. Everything was hazy, my eyesight blurred, and-

_No NO NO NO-_

_Fear anger anger _death_ DON'T DIE I'll kill them WHY-_

_Don't die on me- !_

Wind whipped wildly around us, a storm of harsh violet spinning and whirling across the clearing, a mess of anger and fear and anxiety and sadness and everything I've ever felt since ten years ago all being released in a violent whirlwind.

I felt the power surge in my chest, a jolt of energy that sent a tingle across my scalp and all the way to my toes. I didn't know how long it lasted. The roaring of the wind and the screams of Blitzers filled my ears, the thudding of my heart only adding a beat to the madness.

And it continued for how long? Minutes? Hours? I couldn't tell.

When it was over, I collapsed on my knees, on the ground next to Vivi.

Blitzers surrounded the area, unconscious, or dead, more likely. But that wasn't my main concern.

"...Go." She whispered, her eyes already glassy, her breathing already slow. Her blood-soaked chest moved slowly, up-and-down, up-and-down, and I helplessly watched the life slowly but surely fade away from her.

"I- I'm not leaving you!" I screeched. "Don't do this, Vivi, don't talk like that!"

She stared passively at the sky, a small smile on her face. "I never really thanked you, Ariel, for letting me live with you in that treehouse."

"Vivi. Don't. Don't- do _not _talk like that, okay?" My hands hovered over her body, shaking, unsure what to do. Do I try to stop the bleeding? Comfort her?

She smirked, despite the situation. "I'll talk however I want, Ariel. You… you should go n-" she burst into a fit of coughing, a rattling, wet sound that vibrated through her chest. "They're...They're coming."

"_What are you doing, Ariel? Get up! Run!"_

"_I ordered you to stay inside!" The Blitzer roared, lunging at her._

"_Ariel! Get up, Ariel! Run! Run! R-"_

_Bang!_

"_Teacher!"_

"No!" But she was right. Another batch of Blitzers were in the distance, and rapidly gaining ground.

"I'm not leaving you! No more running!" I couldn't hold it back anymore - the tears started running down my cheeks, dripping down my face, mixing with the red that had contaminated the dirt road.

I can't leave her. Not after all she's done for us. For _me_. "Vivi..."

She smiled, her eyes brimming with tears. "I'll be okay. Really. There's not much more they can already do to me, is there? Just go."

I nodded furiously, my lips forced into a tight smile. _Your last thought should be a happy one. _"I'll miss you. I'll miss you splashing water in my face whenever I sleep in and I'll miss your pickpocketing skills and-"

"I get it, Ariel." She smiled softly. "But you better go."

"...Okay." I stood up, and took one last look at the view- the blood pooled around Vivi, the squad of Blitzers charging toward us, and our tree house watching in the distance.

Here's another death that the great oak will be a witness to.

_Run. Don't stop._

There's nothing worth stopping for anymore.

"I'll come back, I promise. I'll bury you by our tree house and I'll visit it every day. It's the least I can do."

She didn't reply. Her eyes were already shut.

Choking back a sob, I clenched my fists and took flight.

* * *

**A/N:**

**Limeade: Lime really has nothing of note to say this chapter, other than that they were a Variel shipper. There goes that, I guess.**

**Emo: And there we go! Hope you enjoyed! Sorry if this is too angsty, I promise it'll get better. Soon. Hopefully. *cradles Walt &amp; Ariel in arms* What have I done to you my poor little babies.**

**Bluh. We just had to showcase them during their lowest point in their lives, so you get a feel for the story world. **

**Other OC's introduced include:**

**The Twins Who Confused Ariel &amp; Vivi from SDProductions**

**The Helpful Late Teens Gal from Limeade Space Doritos**

**Sorry, other OC's will appear ASAP. Once they get to the Academy. Which brings me to the ones we've finally decided to accept. **

**Our updated list consists of:**

**Justice and Temperance Sweets (SDproductions)**

**Percy and Julius Banks (Limeade Space Dorito)**

**Avery Ramirez (Roses for Ghosts)**

**Ruby Sipple (Moonspots)**

**Stephanie Bailey (ZorialWater)**

**Alastair Johannson (cometshadow)**

**Raiden Niles (PokeFreak45)**

**Kaida Lotus (TreblePlayer67)**

**Kaylum Randall (SentientPixel)**

**Albert Everhart (WesleyDragon)**

**Joshua Logan (The Gentleman Ghost)  
**

**SD &amp; Limeade are MIA as of this moment; exams have been really hard on them and they're presumably fast asleep right now.**

**Also, here's a little bit SD wrote for y'all. It can be entirely unrelated or foreshadow some major plot; I'll leave it to you to figure it out. :3**

* * *

_**? **_

"_Well. Guardian material?"_

"_Definitely. Think we should keep an eye on her?_

"_Course. With any luck, she'll lead us to even more Faders."_

"_Then what we waiting for? Let's go after her, Justice."_

"_Sure, Tammy. After you."_

…

…

"_Also, why are we communicating with our...y'know."_

"_I'm chewing on gum. S'not nice to talk while you eat."_

"_Fair enough. Okay, she flew that way. Onwards!"_

* * *

**A/N:**

**Emo: Also, this chapter's quote goes belongs to Lemony Snicket. That's it, I guess. 'Till next time. (Hopefully we don't have to wait a whole 'nother month but no promises. Sorry. D:D)**


End file.
